LA Kings’ powerplay breakdown versus Nashville

The LA Kings‘ powerplay – like many teams’ powerplay – is often a topic of conversation about what is going wrong. If you’ve followed me on Twitter or listened to our Hockey Royalty podcast, you’ve heard some of my gripes, but we don’t always talk about the things that go well.

I thought it might be good to highlight what the power play looks like in the zone on a game-by-game basis on both things that look good and areas where I think there is cause for concern.

For this piece, we’ll look at Tuesday night’s game against Nashville.

Powerplay Stats

*PP Shots, Scoring Chances (SCF), High Danger Chances (HDCF), and Expected Goals (xGF) are from Natural Stat Trick for 5-on-4 powerplays only*

• 1-for-8
• 11 shots
• 15 SCF
• 6 HDCF
• 2.18 xGF

Powerplay Touch Map

Right off the jump, we see much of the same from the LA PP: heavy perimeter and minimal slot usage. The square plots are when the Kings had a 5-on-3 powerplay in the second period. That is where we started to see some additional usage of Adrian Kempe in the bumper position.

The goal that was scored (triangle) came on a Gabriel Vilardi tip in front from a shot from Arthur Kaliyev, which came from the right circle. I think it’s important to see what happened right before that goal, though.

The puck comes along the wall to Kaliyev, and rather than keeping it on the perimeter, he moves it to Trevor Moore in the bumper. This is subtle, but it keeps the penalty killers honest. Though Moore eventually moves it to the point anyways, as Moore swings back toward the slot, the killers have to account for him. This opens up a 2-on-1 that Kaliyev and Durzi have because of Moore’s presence. They’re able to isolate that penalty killer and open up space for Kaliyev to put the puck on net:

I also think there were some better looks from down low. Some of these didn’t connect, but the process was right.

Watch the play here on the 5-on-3. Anze Kopitar and Viktor Arvidsson do a nice job of switching behind the net. The problem is the player that takes the shot on this play is not even in the picture yet.

Ideally, this shot would come from that shaded area. Part of the issue is Arvidsson is still holding the puck. The best power plays in the league, this puck is already on Kopitar’s stick. But again, the shooter, Adrian Kempe, is not even in the screen.

Here’s the clip. Again, it’s a good idea, just poor execution.

This is one of my favorite plays of the night. I’ve been beating the Vilardi drum dating back to last season, and here he is again. This is a great down-low play. But I want you to notice where he’s standing. He is not standing in front of the goalie to screen him on a low-percentage shot. He is off to the side with his stick available for a Kopitar pass.

Gone (well, maybe not completely gone, but most of the time) should be the days of a player’s heels glued to the top of the crease while the top players attempt to fire shots through a maze of players and are likely to get blocked. This is the type of play that will lead to more scoring opportunities. Vilardi has the option to take it to the net himself as he did, or the next time he can one-touch to Kevin Fiala or Kempe, go back to Kopitar, etc. It opens up more options than a wasted shot into shin pads by Kopitar.

One more example of a good down-low play that almost worked. Here, Phillip Danault goes down below the goalline to Arvidsson. You’ll see in this clip the pass doesn’t connect, but you’ll also see that there are three options that open up. In this one, two of them are closed, and a pass back to Danault would have been the better option instead of Moore. Regardless, Danault shooting originally here would have been a low-percentage shot. By moving it low, options open up:

I also think the Kings made it a point to really look for cross-seam pass options. They didn’t always lead to a shot, and some of them didn’t connect, but it was still encouraging to see them try and incorporate this into their setup.

Here’s one example in the third period. Kopitar does a nice job and makes a very tough pass. I’m sure people are wondering why Fiala didn’t shoot it. Notice the bodies in the lane, it’s a low-percentage option. He instead moves it to Drew Doughty, who also has bodies in the lane, but, probably hearing the fans at home yelling, “shoot!” he decides to take that low-percentage shot. Well, it’s a low percentage for a reason.

All in all, there were good things from yesterday’s powerplay, but I’m still hoping for more. I am taking it as a very big positive that Vilardi was utilized down low on the first unit, we’ve seen numerous examples already this season as to how successful that can be.

I continue to have concerns about the bumper. You saw in the shot plot at the beginning of the article it’s virtually non-existent. I do not think Adrian Kempe is the right choice for that, I believe it should be Arthur Kaliyev. But that would mean one of Fiala or Kempe is not on the top unit, and I do not believe the coaching staff will do that.

It’s a work in progress with a new coach and new players, and it will require patience.

All videos courtesy of InStat